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Tuesday, 13 August 2013

Book Review: The Eternity Cure by Julie Kagawa

In Allison Sekemoto's world, there is one rule left: Blood calls to blood

She
has done the unthinkable: died so that she might continue to live. Cast
out of Eden and separated from the boy she dared to love, Allie will
follow the call of blood to save her creator, Kanin, from the psychotic
vampire Sarren. But when the trail leads to Allie's birthplace in New
Covington, what Allie finds there will change the world forever-and
possibly end human and vampire existence.

There's a new plague
on the rise, a strain of the Red Lung virus that wiped out most of
humanity generations ago-and this strain is deadly to humans and
vampires alike. The only hope for a cure lies in the secrets Kanin
carries, if Allie can get to him in time.

Allison thought that
immortality was forever. But now, with eternity itself hanging in the
balance, the lines between human and monster will blur even further, and
Allie must face another choice she could never have imagined having to
make.

“You're still beautiful and dangerous and incredible, and I'll keep
telling you that for as long as it takes you to believe it. But right
now, all I want to do is kiss you, except I'm terrified that if I try
you might throw me off this balcony.”

Sequels
are a hard thing to master, middle books in a trilogy even more so. I
cannot count the amount of times I have been burned reading a sequel to
a book I really loved. The Eternity Cure made me nervous. It made me
nervous because I thought The Immortal Rules was one of the
best YA books I have ever read, it made me nervous because I wanted it
to be amazing and I was terrified I wouldn’t be. I really shouldn’t
have worried, Julie Kagawa has never let me down in the past and she
didn’t start now. The Eternity Cure was not like The Immortal Rules, it
was different and I loved it because of those differences.

It
is quite hard to pin point what Kagawa does right with these books.
What is it that makes me love them so much? I think it is a combination
of everything the story, world building and writing but I think it is
probably the characters that make this series one of the best.

If
I thought about an alter ego for myself and what I would like her to be
like someone like Allie would come to mind. I often find female YA
characters a little annoying even if I adore them but not Alison. She
is loyal, loving and fierce.

She grows up a lot in this book and
becomes even more likeable. I love everything about her, I love her
honestly with herself, her desperation to remain human whilst trying to
feed and contain the monster within. She is willing to sacrifice,
willing to die for those she loves and what she believes in and she does
so quietly. She isn’t throwing a massive pity party about how cruel
life has been to her, she isn't sulking or moaning, she just accepts it
because it cannot be changed. She is strong and heroic and I absolutely
love her.

The men in this series are just as likable and to be
honest Julie Kagawa really needs to stop

creating male characters that I
want to procreate with. I am only human and these men are slowly
killing me.

Zeke was a bit of a revelation to me in this. I
really did like him in The Immortal Rules and I think he is a perfect
love interest for Allie but I was not interested in him myself, that
changed in The Eternity Cure. It appears that Zeke is growing up, in The Immortal
Rules he was still a boy in The Eternity Cure he is turning into a man
and I like the adult he is becoming. He spends most of his time in this
book around vampires and it takes a lot of courage to do the things he
does but he does them for Allie because he truly loves her. It is one
of those situations where you don’t need to hear him say it, you just
know it and can see it in everything he does.

Next up is Jackal
who came straight out of left field. In The Immortal Rules he was a
villain and he was awful. There was nothing to like about him but in
this things changed…at least I think they did. I found myself
surprisingly and disturbingly attracted to Jackal and I liked him…a lot.
For a guy who professed not to care about anyone or anything he sure
did a lot of caring. I suspect that under the cold and sarcastic
exterior there is a heart of gold. I am not really sure if adoring
Jackal was the author’s intention or if it is just my twisted mind but I
loved him regardless.

Then there is my one true love Kanin. I
loved Kanin from the first page he appeared in The Immortal Rules and I
still love him now. He is one of my all-time favourite characters ever
and is in my top 5 book boyfriends of all time. If something ever
happens to him I will never forgive Kagawa, if something happens to any
of them I will have a hard time but Kanin more than most.

It
wasn’t only the characters that had changed. The Eternity Rules is a
lot darker than its predecessor, with a lot more peril and danger thrown
in. It was about relationships, trust and sacrifice. The ending was
harsh and I think I sat in my bed with my mouth wide open in shock for
at least twenty minutes after I finished. I actually don’t know how I
will wait for the last book in the series but I am scared of getting to
that point as well because the thought of this series ending is pretty scary
because I like it so much.

Dark and dangerously delicious, The Eternity Cure is a book that will be hard to match in YA this year.

5 stars

Published
May 3rd 2013
by Mira Ink in the UK & Published
April 30th 2013
by Harlequin Teen in the US. A free copy was provided for review. Images courtesy of Goodreads.